Intubation instruments such as video laryngoscopes are known in the art. Known laryngoscope systems include U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,178 to Berall; U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,377 to Pacey; U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,447 to Pacey; U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,488 Cubb et al.; Japanese Patent No. JPH05-292504; U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,519 to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,344 to Wood; U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,838 to George; U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,787 to Bullard; Crosby, Techniques using the Bullard Laryngoscope, Anesthesia and Analgesia 81: 1314-1315 (1995); WO 97/15144 to Shapiro; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,343 to Upsher.
Known commercial laryngoscope systems include the Pentax AIRWAY SCOPE and the Verathon GLIDESCOPE RANGER. However, these laryngoscope systems suffer from various deficiencies.
One problem known to laryngoscopes is that the imager shaft may become twisted when being inserted into a blade element. If the imager shaft is not inserted correctly into the blade element, then the imager shaft may become stuck and the image produced by the camera does not appear upright or appears off-center in a display.
Other problems known in the prior art involve the cable becoming damaged when the imager shaft is pulled out of the single-use blade after use. Another known problem in the prior art involves difficulties in disinfecting the imagers in known laryngoscope systems.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a video laryngoscope system that overcome and solve these above mentioned problems.